OTTAWA, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- The Health Canada agency is considering putting pictures of dying cancer patients on cigarette packages as a deterrent to smoking.
The agency has been using focus groups to review 49 new health warnings to replace those already mandated on cigarette packs, the Edmonton (Alberta) Journal reported.
Two of the photographs graded to have the most impact feature Edmonton native Barb Tarbox, a heavy smoker who died of lung cancer in 2003. Before her death, she became an avid anti-smoking advocate.
One of the warnings focus groups rated highly was a picture of an emaciated Tarbox that says "Dead at 42," and continues "When you die, you leave behind so much pain for the people that continue living."
A second warning features two pictures of the woman healthy and then in her dying days, the newspaper said.
Christelle Legault, media relations officer for Health Canada, told the Journal no final decision has been made on the new warnings, nor when they will debut.
Current images on cigarette packs feature pictures of a brain after a stroke and a cancerous lung, among others.
